This invention relates generally to lighting fixtures and, more particularly, to lighting fixtures configured to produce light having a selected color spectrum.
Lighting fixtures of this kind have been used for many years in theater, television, and architectural lighting applications. Typically, each fixture includes an incandescent lamp mounted adjacent to a concave reflector, which reflects light through a lens assembly to project a beam of light toward a theater stage or the like. A color filter can be mounted at the fixture's forward end, for transmitting only selected wavelengths of the light emitted by the lamp, while absorbing and/or reflecting other wavelengths. This provides the projected beam with a particular spectral composition.
The color filters used in these lighting fixtures typically have the form of glass or plastic films, e.g., of polyester or polycarbonate, carrying a dispersed chemical dye. The dyes transmit certain wavelengths of light, but absorb the other wavelengths. Several hundred different colors can be provided by such filters, and certain of these colors have been widely accepted as standard colors in the industry.
Although generally effective, such plastic color filters usually have limited lifetimes, caused principally by the need to dissipate large amounts of heat derived from the absorbed wavelengths. This has been a particular problem for filters transmitting blue and green wavelengths. Further, although the variety of colors that can be provided is large, these colors nevertheless are limited by the availability of commercial dyes and the compatibility of those dyes with the glass or plastic substrates. In addition, the very mechanism of absorbing non-selected wavelengths is inherently inefficient. Substantial energy is lost to heat.
In some lighting applications, gas discharge lamps have been substituted for the incandescent lamps, and dichroic filters have been substituted for the color filters. Such dichroic filters typically have the form of a glass substrate carrying a multi-layer dichroic coating, which reflects certain wavelengths and transmits the remaining wavelengths. These alternative lighting fixtures generally have improved efficiency, and their dichroic filters are not subject to fading or other degradation caused by overheating. However, the dichroic filters offer only limited control of color, and the fixtures cannot replicate many of the complex colors created by the absorptive filters that have been accepted as industry standards.
Recently, some lighting fixtures have substituted light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for incandescent lamps and gas-discharge lamps. Red-, green-, and blue-colored LEDs typically have been used, arranged in a suitable array. Some LED fixtures have further included amber-colored LEDs. By providing electrical power in selected amounts to these LEDs, typically using pulse-width modulated electrical current, light having a variety of colors can be projected. These fixtures eliminate the need for color filters, thereby improving on the efficiency of prior fixtures incorporating incandescent lamps or gas-discharge lamps.
One deficiency of LED lighting fixtures of this kind is that the flux magnitude and the peak flux wavelength can vary substantially from device to device and also can vary substantially with the junction temperature of each device, with LEDs of different colors exhibiting substantially different flux temperature coefficients. Moreover, the amount of flux produced by each device generally degrades over time, and that degradation occurs at different rates for different devices, depending on their temperatures over time and on their nominal color. All of these factors can lead to substantial variations in the color spectrum of the composite beam of light projected by such fixtures.
To date, LED lighting fixtures have not been configured to compensate for the identified variations in flux and spectral composition. Users of such fixtures have simply accepted the fact that the color spectra of the projected beams of light will have unknown initial composition, will change with temperature variations, and will change over time, as the LEDs degrade.
It should be apparent from the foregoing description that there is a need for an improved method for controlling a lighting fixture of a kind having individually colored light sources, e.g., LEDs, that emit light having a distinct luminous flux spectrum that varies in its initial spectral composition, that varies with temperature, and that degrades over time. In particular, there is a need for a means of controlling such fixture so that it projects light having a predetermined desired flux spectrum despite variations in initial spectral characteristics, despite variations in temperature, and despite degradation over time. The present invention satisfies these needs and provides further related advantages.